A Small Piece of Home
by Darth-Taisha
Summary: Sometimes even missing-nins get homesick and just need a little reminder of the place they used to call home. Itachi/Hinata. Set right after the Chunin Exams while Hinata is recovering from her fight against Neji. (Non-pairing, except for maybe at the end.)
1. Chapter 1

**A Small Piece of Home**

**Summary:** Shortly after the Chunin Exams, and still recovering from her fight against her cousin Neji, Hinata finds a note hidden in a tree just outside of Konoha and provides an unexpected link to life back home for an Akatsuki member. Story takes place over several years and basically is non-pairing, except for a little mention at the end.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine, Masashi Kishimoto owns it all and is brilliant. I just wish he would stop killing off all of my favorite characters.

**Dedication:** fanofthisfiction for always reviewing on my stories even if they aren't all that great. I just wanted to say thank you so much. Hugs

**~1~**

They say time heals all wounds and in Hinata's mind as she slowly recovers from her nearly fatal injuries after the Chunin exams, she wished it would hurry up. She wanted to grow stronger in a hurry, but it was difficult when she was still having trouble breathing. The scar tissue on her lungs was taking its sweet time becoming elastic again, and sometimes when she ran her chest felt like it was literally on fire.

It was frustrating and she wasn't the only one affected by it. Because of her injuries, her team was forced to take several D-rank missions that were so safely innocuous and mundane, their biggest problem as a team was fighting off ennui.

But no one complained, and Kurenai, with her usual wisdom just scheduled more training times to make up for it. Though Hinata was forced at times to sit and watch she grew to appreciate just how supportive everyone was. Team 8 was her sanctuary, her home away from home.

They gave her the emotional support she needed to survive, but not thrive amongst her clan. The only speck of optimism she had back home under her oppressive father's roof was her steadily improving relationship with her cousin, Neji. Since the exams, he seemed to be a little kinder and had even asked politely after the state of her health a few times when they would meet in the long aesthetic hallways.

A cute smile graced her mouth at the thought and she went back to her task of cleaning up debris off of the main road to Konoha. A massive typhoon had roared through their area last night. And in several spots along the main road, fallen trees were blocking them, and making it nearly impossible for travelers and supplies to get through.

So, for once they were on a semi-important mission, because without commerce, their hidden village's economy would be in dire straits. But it wasn't just team 8, nearly every available ninja and team was on some sort of clean up duty today. All along the road teams were doing their part to clear the road.

However, one person on her team didn't quite understand the importance of the mission. And with Kurenai being absent, leaving Shino in charge; it created a perfect storm of opportunity for Kiba and Akamaru to do other things, such as create mischief, I mean practice their jutsu.

Hinata ducked and cringed after hearing shouts of, "Fang over Fang!" Her eyes widened after she witnessed a dual-destructive force greater than the typhoon they had last night cut a swirling vortex path through the densely wooded area before Kiba and Akamaru slammed themselves hard into a giant tree.

"Kiba-kun," she yelped while practically flying over the distance to them, completely ignoring the searing pain in her lungs. "A-are you alright?" Hinata asked anxiously while out of breath, with her hand over her chest.

"Yeah, of course we're fine - we do this all the time," he shrugged off with a large feral grin before helping Akamaru up off of the ground. "Isn't that right boy?"

"Woof," the canine barked positively.

Hinata breathed out a sigh of relief and then started to cough. When Kiba immediately crossed over to her in concern she tried to wave him off. "I'm fine," she said with a slight edge to her breathless and painfully raspy voice, she didn't want to be coddled by anyone. It made her feel so weak and useless.

"Well, why don't you at least take a short break," Kiba suggested patiently.

She was about to tell him she didn't need one when Shino joined them and pulled rank over her. "Hinata, take a fifteen minute break," he ordered calmly, while pushing his glasses more securely against his firm eyes.

"Alright...Shino-kun," she conceded and slid down and ended up with her back up against a tree. And in a way, as she felt the searing pain begin to gnaw at her chest, she was grateful for the chance to rest. Running like she did had aggravated her injuries almost to their limit, and she was definitely paying a price. Closing her eyes for several moments, she tried to focus on breathing slowly in and out.

It took about twenty nearly agonizing minutes for the pain to finally begin to recede. But she knew she was done for the day, it hurt too much too move and it was going to take a lot of her chakra and stamina just for her to walk all the way home.

Her shoulders drooped as her eyes took in the way her team-mates and all of the other ninjas were working so hard clearing the area and here she was sitting against a tree, doing nothing. It made her feel so weak…so useless, discouragement began to settle over her, like a death shroud.

_No! I'm not going to give in to it! _

Her eyes snapped open wide refusing to give into the feelings of hopelessness. She _would_ get better and then she would work hard. To prove it to herself she activated her Byakugan.

And nearly jumped up when she saw right in front her in the huge tree Kiba ran into was a small trace of a genjutsu covering a small opening, virtually naked to anyone other than someone with a kekkei genkai or a genjutsu specialist. Curious, especially since it didn't seem to be at all sinister to her, instead the chakra around it seemed to feel almost calm and welcoming.

For once her curiosity overcame her fear of the unknown, and good sense. And she dispelled the genjutsu and was surprised to see inside the hole there was a note.

Slowly she reached in and pulled it out and opened it up. Deactivating her bloodline limit she began to read it and saw it was written by an almost scholarly hand.

_Hello,_

_If you are reading this than I assume you are a ninja with some ability to recognize genjutsu. I assure you when I say by writing this I mean you and the village no harm. I am simply someone who no longer has the right to go home, but is seeking a small reminder of the place to take with me on my travels._

_If you would like to respond to my request, I would welcome the opportunity to correspond with you._

_Sincerely,_

_Yasu_

_(Please note this is not my real name, and I do not expect you to give me yours or any personal information if you do not wish to provide it.)_

Hinata felt tears burn behind her eyes and her troubles were forgotten as she re-read the note, and felt whoever wrote it was a deeply lonely individual. She could almost read the pain he was in between the lines.

Slipping it in her jacket pocket she decided it was time to go home. She knew they were coming back to the area tomorrow, she was determined to write something tonight and put it in the tree tomorrow and see if anyone ever comes back to retrieve it.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This is just something I have been thinking of for quite a while. I have always enjoyed movies like **The Lake House** with Sandra Bullock, and **84 Charing Cross Road** a classic with Anne Bancroft, where there is a correspondence kept up and an incognito relationship is formed, but they both help each other out in some way. I am thinking along the lines of a 3 or 4 shot moving through the Naruto timeline until the present.

Yasu, means Peace. A fitting pseudonym for Itachi, I think anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Aww thanks guys so much for your reviews, you are awesome! Evilbananalol, mommymomo, blackmoon124, fanofthisfiction (thanks!) shikamaru lover4ever, pangpong, Maejirase, Kibachow, guest, DageRee, and aurora0914. I wrote this pretty fast so I hope it doesn't disappoint you. Big hugs.

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><p><em>One week later…<em>

"Ahh, there's nothing like killing early in the morning to make a person feel really alive," Kisame stated as an exhilarated light shone from his shark-like stare. "Don't you think, Itachi?"

A noncommittal grunt was the answer he received and he knew it was the only one he was going to get after making such a bald statement. Kisame merely rolled his eyes while he continued to wash the sticky blood off his hands in the stream. He had been Itachi's partner for a few years now and it hadn't taken him long to realize the young ninja wasn't too fond of killing, but that didn't mean he couldn't tease him about it, considering the business they were in.

Akatsuki members were first and foremost assassins. Though they occasionally were hired to do other types of missions, practically everyone in the ninja world that knew of their existence hired them mostly for one thing only, to kill people...efficiently…and to leave no witnesses behind.

Today it had been a scientist, along with his wife and two children…and a few innocent bystanders that had just happened to be walking by the man's house. Kisame had taken care of the ones inside, while Itachi had taken care of the ones outside - it had been a young mother and her school-aged daughter.

Kisame watched the carefulness with which the young ninja from Konoha cleaned the blood off of his weapons; it was always done with the same tightly precise movements. Dunk it in water, rub the blade with sand, then scrape the blade on a sharp rock, then back into the water all while his pale face was so calm and expressionless, it might as well have been etched out of marble.

But Kisame was no longer fooled by that cold, impassive facade; he knew his young partner was grieving. Those dark Uchiha eyes of his were too deeply inset to not be. He just pretended not to notice, and as partners, they did that a lot with each other. Just like Itachi pretended to not notice the way he tucked Samehada in at night under a nice comfy blanket, and sometimes even sung him lullabies from his village when his sword was particularly worked up about something.

Undoubtedly they had secrets from each other, scores of them, but there were some things that were impossible to hide from one another. Such as how Itachi always found inventive ways to funnel money back anonymously to the victim's families after each mission. And over time, by an unspoken agreement, they simply pretended ignorance or made allowances for one another.

And if one of them needed unscheduled time away for a few hours here and there, it was never officially added to any reports made to Pein. It was their way of looking out for each other. And in a world filled with the brutality of death and lies, those precious stolen moments of freedom helped them to maintain their sanity.

So, when Itachi stood up with utterly silent movements next to him and said, "I will meet you in a few hours back at the hotel in Shukuba." Kisame nodded compliantly and hid a knowing smirk. "No problem, but you will probably find me in the restaurant – you know how hungry I get after killing…I'm ravenous."

"Fine," his partner responded, hiding his revulsion and his gratitude as he turned away and stealthily disappeared into the woods outside of his former village…the only place he would ever consider to be home.

Konoha.

The leaf village with its storied history, and prestigious clans of elite ninja. The mere mention of the name conjures memories, some unspeakably painful, while some were untouchable because they were so precious. They were the ones buried deep in the locked recesses of his mind. And as he made his way through the woods his mind refused to touch on the aforementioned memories, but chose to think of the more mundane and ordinary ones.

Such as the grand way the Hokage Mountain looked in the early morning hours just after the sun rose and cast rays of light down on it. He used to find it interesting, if not amusing, how the sunlit shadows seemed to change the expressions on the former hokage's faces from regal to benevolent. And sometimes even wry amusement as their visages stared down at the village below them, depending on how the light touched them.

He never mentioned his absurd observations to anyone, because in no way would he have wanted to disrespect such a sacred, hallowed monument. But he had always wondered if anyone else had ever taken notice of it before.

In the ninja world, perception was everything, and he had never seen things the way others did, even his humor wasn't always picked up by others. Probably because they never expected someone like him to ever unbend enough to make a joke.

Instead he learned early to keep such mental indulgences to himself. Realizing life's little ironies were almost a gift, and were necessary to have when one was trying to survive.

As a harsh breath escaped him, he realized it was days like today, he desperately needed life's little ironies to keep him sane. Though he had stopped by the temple and handed them some money to give to the victim's husband, he knew it would never make up for the pain the loss of her and his daughter was going to bring to the man.

Money would never be enough, he knew that. But he still felt compelled to do something.

He had waited as long as he possibly could before he executed them. He had hoped they hadn't noticed what was going on in the scientist's house, but when the woman's face revealed she had heard the screams and when she started to run along with her daughter, that was when he silently moved in.

A few times in the past on other missions, he had tried to let a few bystanders slip by, but Kisame had followed behind him and ended up taking them out anyway. At least he knew he was more efficient at killing than his partner was. No one ever suffered unnecessarily by his hand, he always made sure of it.

When he finally made it to the clearing, he noticed it had been recently cleaned up and he remembered hearing a typhoon had went thought the area about a week ago. He had been glad to hear no one in Konoha had been killed or injured by the storm.

His eyes automatically alighted on the largest tree in the area and he was surprised to see someone had finally noticed his genjutsu. His eyes grew more alert and wary as he searched around with his Sharingan activated and relaxed when he could tell no one appeared to be watching him.

To be honest, he never expected his small impulsive outreach to stay intact for as long as it did. Didn't anyone ever search the woods around the village anymore? It had sat there untouched for over two years and he had been disgusted by the lack of security every time he stopped by to check on it.

Quickly he reached inside and saw under a large rock was a note. After smelling it he found no scent of poison and his Sharigan couldn't spot any chakra residue. He deemed it was safe and after shoving it in his pocket he was on his way. After he travelled to a safer distance away from Konoha he pulled it out and when he opened it a small bookmark pressed with delicate yellow and purple flowers fell into his hand.

First clue, the person who found it was obviously a girl. His deduction was immediately confirmed when he opened the note and saw it had been written in purple ink.

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth as he started to read through it:

_Yasu-san,_

_I found your note and I could not refuse your request, modest as it was. If I was ever forced to leave Konoha, I would feel the same. I do not know your situation and I promise you I will not ask as long as you do not ever try to press me for information that would compromise the safety of my village. If I suspect you are trying to do that, I will have no choice but to report you._

_Good girl_, Itachi thought, already forming a favorable impression of his correspondent.

_I included a bookmark I made a few weeks ago from some flowers I picked near the Hokage Monument. (I hope you like it, even though it didn't turn out the way I wanted to) I went up there early in the morning because sometimes looking down on the village as the sun rises over it, makes my problems seem to be small in comparison to the bigger picture of keeping the village safe._

_On that morning, it was particularly beautiful, the birds were singing and there was a gentle breeze flowing over me. It was so quiet and peaceful it seemed to restore my strength a little. I hope you have been there before and know what I am talking about, it is truly wonderful and one of my favorite places to go to in Konoha._

_I hope my modest gift will work as something small from here to take with you while you travel. Know that I send it with sincere wishes for your health and happiness. If you wish to write back, I will admit, I am more than a little curious about you._

_There isn't much to say about me, other than I like to read, which I have been doing a lot lately, because I recently was injured and my lungs aren't healing as quickly as I would like them to. I also like to garden, it makes me feel grounded to plant seeds and watch them grow into something beautiful or useful like vegetables._

_Sometimes, I feel neither useful or like I am growing - I feel stuck somewhere in between._

_Sorry, I don't mean to depress you with my gloomy thoughts, my intention in writing back to you was to cheer you up and encourage you._

_I hope in some small way I was able to do that._

_Sincerely,_

_Hina (This also is not my real name, but you are welcome to use it should you contact me again.)_

As Itachi re-read the note, he deducted several things, the girl sounded young, probably close to his brother's age and incredibly hesitant, shy even, but there was nothing wrong with her verbal skills and manners, they were excellent.

He knew civilians rarely think about protecting the village, so her wariness alone made him automatically think she was a ninja, probably a genin, possibly was from a clan, one in particular, but he couldn't know for sure at the moment.

But he did have a way to find out.

He bit his thumb and after performing a few rapid hand-signs and slamming down his hand he summoned a few crows with Sharingan eyes, and gave them orders to keep watch over the area until he returned.

As he slipped the note along with the bookmark back into his pocket and took a deep breath, he found oddly enough he did feel a little bit better.

**Author's Note:** I was surprised by how many people reviewed and are following the story. Thank you. I have been searching for Itachi-oriented, non-pairing stories set during this time for a while and there aren't too many of them. In my mind this is similar to Way of the Tea in tone, but I will tell you up front my plan is to follow the manga with a few changes. I do have an ending in mind, but it is not set in stone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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><p>In Akatsuki, it was common knowledge Itachi wrote absolutely the best reports. In any other organization such flawless attention to detail and thoroughness would be praiseworthy, but amongst criminals it was almost viewed with suspicion or as sucking up as Hidan had accused him after being ordered to be more thorough like him by Pein.<p>

In any case, such snide comments did not deter him from doing his duty as a ninja. It would feel foreign to do less than was expected of him, perhaps because excellence was drilled into him by his father, who had once been in charge of the entire police force in Konoha.

Yet he didn't completely disregard their comments and made sure to provide just enough pertinent details to satisfy their leader, but not make them so detailed anymore suspicions were raised. And if he also used that time to write letters to a young kunoichi back home, under the guise he was writing reports - that Kisame didn't want to do anyway, then he could justify his time was being well spent.

They had been writing back and forth in their cautiously secretive fashion for almost three months now. After contacting her several times he was even more determined to keep their communications completely undetectable for her protection, by changing the location of the drop-off point, usually hidden by genjutsu.

With her all-seeing Byakugan his genjutsu-camouflaged messages were easy things for her to find.

It didn't take him long to discover her identity, and ironically he found it fitting; she was the Hyuuga clan heiress and had been one of his brother's peers at the academy. Prior to Itachi's banishment and disgrace they had been each other's counterpart as heirs to the two most influential clans in Konoha, and since he now lived his life harshly concealed in the shadows, lying and killing on a daily basis, he found it oddly comforting she lived hers in a more refined and honest manner, firmly established in the light.

The unique sameness and bitter dichotomy in their backgrounds made it almost unconsciously easy for them to communicate even with the difference in their ages and circumstances. He even remembered meeting her a few times in the past, and knew her to be a timid creature, with a soft, kind voice who kept her lavender-tinged eyes lowered deferentially to the ground the whole time he had spoken to her, which hadn't been for very long.

But for him, it had been long enough for her to have made an impression on him. His letters ended up being written almost imperceptibly in the protective tone of an elder brother to a younger sister. And after being beaten down for so long by the oppressive expectations of her rigid clan, Hinata responded to them like a sunflower soaking up the bright afternoon sun after it had been in the shade too long.

His first letter had begun briefly with his gratitude for her gift along with some tips on how to rebuild her muscles, chakra, and strength back up in non-aerobic ways, using resistance and kinetic energy conversion.

When she had written him back she thanked him effusively for his advice and assured him she was recovering and growing stronger each day. Of course, she didn't have any advice for him, instead she had written extensively about the firefly festival. And her accurate descriptions of the beloved event had made his heart ache with nostalgia, but it had been worth it to have someone give him a first-hand account of it.

Thinking about the festival made his mouth water for dango, instead when he breathed in he could only smell the pungent odors of Kisame cooking unseasoned fish over a jutsu-induced, smokeless camp fire.

His partner usually devoured his fish raw, but since Itachi was taking care of the reports he somewhat ungraciously offered to cook dinner for both of them. The younger ninja's stomach growled edgily with hunger even though fish was not his favorite (they ate it far too often for him to ever say he enjoyed it anymore). It had been a long day, consisting of intermittent bouts of killing and rapid travelling, and there had been no time for breaks or refreshments.

Right now they were in the middle of nowhere, at least a half a day's journey still from Akatsuki's current hideout. He had his sweat-covered back leaned wearily against a grimy, rough-hewn tree trunk, and in the distance there was the sound of a soothing stream.

Lifting his eyes with cautious glimpses from his dual efforts of letter-writing and reporting he had to admit the area with the lush green meadows and trees hemmed in by the stream was fairly scenic. Yet he knew not to let his guard down, even a little.

As a ninja practically from the day he was born he had always been alert, even hyper-vigilant about it, but now he would have to say his alertness has reached a level that was just a few kunai-tips away from paranoia, even when he was back at the base.

After being in the criminal organization for only a few years he was a seasoned, even jaded observer. Very quickly he had developed a sense of the other members in Akatsuki, their overall personality quirks, and how to deal with them. But along with them, there was a despicably vile network of subordinates/spies supporting them to also contend with. And they were an unpredictable, power-hungry lot, always trying to move up in the ranks and impress the main members. It seemed no level of base depravity was too low for them to go in order for them to try to move up to higher levels.

Early on in his stint with the shady organization, Itachi had caught several of them in genjutsu traps when they had attempted to ferret out information by rifling through his belongings while he had been away on his first mission.

Because of his young age, the other members had erroneously assumed he would be careless, and for a time he partially allowed that impression to remain in order to draw them in. Within a few weeks, like an insidiously patient spider catching prey in its web, he captured and interrogated the low-life underlings and he learned (at times far more lurid details than he cared to know about each one of them). And he painstakingly used the information he obtained to firmly etch out his position in the grim organization.

But most of all he learned to survive and to trust no one, not even his partner. He and Kisame may have had an understanding between them, but both of them knew it was tenuous at best and their duties as shinobi would always come before any sense of personal loyalty between them. So, after receiving any notes from her, he promptly destroyed each one of them immediately after he read it, just to be safe.

His memory was perfect and he didn't need to keep them as tokens of sentimental nonsense. Her kind written words to him were enough.

They soon became steady markers of innocent light in the tainted black vortex of darkness that surrounded him, small and seemingly unimportant mentions of home…unbearably precious. And to a young man who was grimly forging his own path towards death, she became something unexpected, something unhoped for…she became the only person who would actually be sad when he died.

"Supper's done," Kisame announced with a shark like grin while he pulled a couple of the charred fishes off of the makeshift wooden skewer and began gnawing on them with his razor sharp teeth. "Hey, they're actually not too bad," he said with raised eyebrows as he grinned in Itachi direction.

In the short time his partner's attention was busy with devouring his meal; Itachi had already concealed his latest letter and put away the report in his pack.

"Thank you for making dinner," he said politely while standing up and stretching his arms languidly over his head.

"You're welcome," Kisame replied with a sly shark-like glance. "It was the least I could do…since you have been so…_enthusiastic_…about taking care of the reports lately."

A worried vice clenched around his gut, knowing he would have to be a lot more careful from now on. He wasn't sure how much Kisame knew, but he had obviously raised his partner's suspicions by his actions. Kisame may appear to be nothing but a monstrous bully and thug, but Itachi knew otherwise. His partner was actually an unusually crafty ninja, good at finding the hidden meanings and looking beneath the surface.

As Itachi moved cautiously to pull off a few burnt fish from off of the skewer, he was careful to keep his voice and demeanor purposefully expressionless as he raised an unconcerned eyebrow. "You are more than welcome to take care of the next ones."

Shuddering dramatically, Kisame grimaced. "No, that's alright. I wouldn't want to take something from you that you... enjoy, Itachi-san."

For just a moment their eyes met with neither one giving away what they knew or didn't know, and then by mutual consent they just decided to let it go. There was nothing in his letters even remotely compromising and there was nothing in them that could give away her identity. He had been cautious to make sure she would never be harmed by corresponding to him. He also made sure his handwriting was different than it normally was, so no one in Konoha would be able to recognize it.

Opening his pack he pulled out a couple of bright red apples he had been saving and casually tossed one to Kisame. "Thank you for dinner, Kisame-san, you were right - they did taste good," he said evenly as he started heading toward the stream to wash his hands and face before they started travelling again.

"You're welcome and don't take too long, we need to be moving out soon," his partner reminded him as he stared after him.

Itachi was used to moving quickly and was back in less than five minutes, and was already efficiently removing any trace of them ever having been at this site.

"We have new orders," Kisame informed him and Itachi frowned slightly noting the almost enthusiastic vibe in his tone of voice. He gave him a stoic, but questioning glance.

"The Daimyo has an advisor he needs taken care of, but he doesn't want the job done for a few weeks," he stated before his shark-like grin widened ominously. "He wants to make the man to suffer for a while first."

"I see," Itachi said wearily, seeing nothing new or different from the countless other assassinations (missions) they had done lately.

Kisame's shark eyes were almost effused with energy. "The good news is we will finally get some time off, we will meet up in the capital in a week with more details, but until then he told us to rest."

The orders were a very welcome respite, they had been performing missions nonstop for the last few months, but Itachi was still wary. "It sounds to me like they are planning something."

"Perhaps," Kisame agreed bluntly with a shrug. "But I'm not going to argue. Not when there is a hot springs nearby…I've been dying for a good soak."

As Itachi picked up his pack and moved to follow him knowing he was covered in a few layers of sweat and grime, he had to admit for once he couldn't agree more…

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This part went a little long so I decided to add Hinata's part in the next chapter. I plan to make them small and will probably go longer than I originally planned this fic to be. I am looking forward to the next chapter and already have some of it written. Hugs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I'm still alive and I hope to finish this story this year. I changed Tachi to Yasu as the name he told her to call him in Chapter 2 FYI.

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><p>"Good job today," Kurenai told her team as she dismissed them after a long and somewhat grueling training session. Her eyes had remained on Hinata the longest before she gave them all a brief, but very satisfied smile.<p>

Over the past four months since her injury, Hinata' recovery has been nothing short of astonishing. Far surpassing her previous abilities, her level of strength and conditioning had increased tremendously, as well as her ability to mold chakra. Kurenai had also noticed she was spending a lot of time in the library reading when she wasn't training or on missions.

Her eyes were stealthily assessing as Hinata efficiently stowed away her training gear in her pack while talking to Kiba and Shino. Kurenai was silently grateful to the motivating force behind her amazing improvement. Because not only was she getting stronger, her team-mates were too. Hinate's fierce desire to improve was affecting them too. They had spent the whole last hour on genjutsu because they had all asked her to teach them more about it.

The strange thing was, Kiba had actually sat through the whole training and he had even asked questions. Kurenai's eyes had nearly popped out of her head after his first question. It was mind boggling.

But as their sensei, she could only be thankful. As she watched her fledgling genins leave the training ground with confidence highlighting their steps, she knew the more they could learn from her, the better their chances would be of surviving in the real world.

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><p>The three of them were on the verge of parting ways when Hinata paused for a moment and began to shuffle through her pack. Her lavender eyes lit up brightly when she fished out an ominously heavy book.<p>

"Here," Hinata said only a shade hesitantly to Kiba as she heaved it over to him. "Read over chapters 4 and 5 especially. I think… they will really help you learn how to conserve your chakra better."

"Uh okay," he said while mentally groaning because of the sheer size of the scholarly looking book. And as he opened it up and thumbed through random pages he blanched when he saw how complex it looked too.

Hinata gave him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry Kiba-kun, it is not as bad as it looks. But, if you would like, we could go over some of it the next time we have a team practice."

Kiba sent her a feral grin that was a little relieved too. "Thanks Hinata, that sounds great."

"I returned that book about 'Infiltration and Stealth Tactics' back to the library, it was brilliant just like you said it would be," Shino told her while calmly adjusting his sleeve to make his allies more comfortable. Effectively hiding the enthusiastic light that was lurking in his eyes behind his shades he asked, "Do you have any other books you think I should read?"

Hinata's heart swelled with joy as she saw how well her team-mates had been responding to the extra training material she had been giving them. Over the past few months she had been gradually giving them tips on how to improve their chakra control. As their abilities began to grow and strengthen they started asking her so many questions she finally started giving them books to read.

"I know of a few, I will write them down for you and bring the list to the next practice," she promised with a shy smile.

As she left her team-mates and began to head toward the library her body and mind were fully in sync as though everything was right in her world and she knew why. It was because of her correspondence with Yasu.

What had started out as mere pity for a banished fellow citizen of her beloved Konoha rapidly grew to be something much more in her heart and mind.

His letters had a way of expanding her world, and opening her mind. His deeply-held love for Konoha shone through his words and made her see her hometown as more than just a place where she lived and was pledged to protect, but also as an ideal. A place of peace.

He encouraged her read books about the founding of Konoha and the biography of the First Hokage and she started to understand how important it was to maintain peace in the world. The Hidden Leaf was built on such principles and the rudimentary history she had learned in the academy had never brought that fact home to her in that way.

Yet for all the knowledge he freely shared with her, his words brought something more and unexpected in that they were also like a covering over her, the feeling was subtle, but she could definitely sense it. If she had to put it into words she would say the feelings she had ever since she started reading his letters were the ones someone would have after struggling futilely through the bitterly cold wind and rain of a fierce storm only to find a warm, but solid shelter in the midst of it.

The steady sense of protection or friendship that she felt from him was beginning to feel as real as the two crows that were always just a stones-throw away from her whenever she stepped outside of the front gates of Konoha. In her reply letters, she never asked him about them, but somehow she knew they were from him. She recognized the crow's chakra as the same as the genjutsu where they dropped their letters off.

After being all but discarded by her clan like a piece of rubbish for years, it felt nice to have someone value her thoughts and appreciate the things she saw in her day to day life. In her letters back to him, she wasn't able to give him valuable training advice like he did for her, but she did feel she was able to give him something she thought he wanted.

She gave him a small link back to the place he seemed to love more than anything.

Sometimes she wondered who he really was and what had happened to cause him to be banished from home. Though she was immensely curious, she never tried to pry and always respected his privacy.

The two of them would probably never meet, but she hoped he would always be her pen-pal. She just wished there was something she could do to help him in some way… or one day get the chance to thank him personally, that would mean so much to her.

She stepped around the corner and her thoughts were all but stopped as she emerged in front of her destination, the library. Her foot had just landed on one of the steps when a hard voice halted her forward progress.

"Hinata-san, are you finished with that book yet?"

"J-just a m-minute, Sasuke-kun," she stammered a little as she rifled quickly through her backpack and held out a book on 'Developing Your Natural Element.' "Here you go, I hope you will enjoy it," she told him with a small, but polite bow of her head. (Over the past few months they both had kept bumping into each other trying to check out a lot of the same books. In the case with this book he had yielded and allowed her to check it out first.)

As his hand wrapped around the book, he reached out with his other and slid a different book into her still outstretched hand. "Here," he said gruffly as he took in the puzzlement written on her face, "…this is a companion book to the one you just read."

A blush tinged her cheeks as she lowered her eyes and said, "Thank you very much."

Sasuke shrugged, "Just make sure you turn it in when you're done, it is still checked out in my name."

Nodding in understanding, Hinata told him, "Same with that book, I was just on my way to turn it in."

Sasuke turned to leave after giving her the merest of nods. "See you next week then," he told her over his shoulder.

"Alright," Hinata said to his departing back and a small but shy smile touched her mouth as she watched him leave.

**Author's Note:** I have had some of this chapter already written for so long, but I have never been able to finish it until now. I know I don't deserve any love from any of you out there after taking so many months off from writing, but it would be nice to hear from some of you.

I have half of the next chapter already written and hope to post it within a day or two if everything goes well for me.


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